Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Artisan Bread II

Click picture to enlarge for close-up of bread.

Just wanted to share some more about the Artisan Bread. Good to my word, I've been baking homemade bread EVERY SINGLE DAY! Not because I'm Supermom, or Suzie Homemaker, or Mrs. Cleaver... I'm far from that.

I'm able to make this bread because IT IS SO EASY!

This afternoon, I pulled apart just enough batter to bake a small loaf for my daughter and myself. Less than 5 min prep time, pop in oven, fresh bread for lunch!

After cooled, slice in half...
Create your favorite sandwich and share ---- This sandwich consisted of tuna, chopped onions, tomatoes, grated cheese, sea salt, pepper, and Mayo. Pictured above: cheddar jalapeno potato chips.

I want to stop here and say nothing compares to a FRESH gourmet sandwich!

For dinner, I tried an experiment that my mother had suggested --- rolling batter into small bread sticks. I sprinkled with minced garlic, grated cheese, and popped into the toaster oven. PRESTO, and PERFECT!

All I can say is WOW.
Due to a lot of interest/questions about this recipe, I'm going to share a few tidbits my mother and I discovered along the way.

1.) You can bake this on a cookie sheet like I do (you don't need a baking stone.)
2.) You can use bleach/unbleached flour
3.) You can substitute iodine salt for Kosher/sea salt (but I use sea salt in most foods anyway.)
4.) You CAN substitute half a cup of wheat flour, with white, or mix around. Experiment!
5.) If you fall in love with this recipe, be prepared to have extra bowls of batter fermenting in your fridge... Like me!

Here's the recipe again:

Artisan Bread

6 1/2 cups unbleached flour
3 cups tap water
1 1/2 tbs yeast
1 1/2 tbs kosher salt

Using LARGE bowl -- Pour salt and yeast into tap water, and stir in flour with wooden spoon. That's it! No knead to knead! (sorry, for the pun.)

Sit on counter for 2 hours, then transfer batter to fridge. The batter is good for up to 14 days. (the longer the batter is left in fridge/ferment, the better!) 1 batch is enough to make 4 full loaves of bread.

My largest bowl doesn't come with a lid, so I just cover with a large plate and place on bottom of my fridge. If you have a lid, don't use air tight.

When ready to bake -- pull apart the amount of batter you need and form into shape. If you need to, please view video on my first posting to see demonstration. Dust with flour if needed when batter is too sticky to handle. Also, don't knead this bread! The secret is to not handle the batter too much. You want the gas/air pockets to remain untouched.

Since I'm baking on a cookie sheet, I sprinkle a little cornmeal first. I allow the bread to sit and rise for 40 min, while oven is preheating at 450. Make a small indention across loaf before popping into oven.

Bake bread for 40 min, or until golden brown. Cool on wire rack.


Happy homemaking!

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Heavenly burger

This freshly baked hamburger bun came from the 5-min Artisan bread I had blogged about earlier. I am so thrilled with the possibilities!
Honestly, this was the best tasting hamburger I've had in a long time. The last few times I ate burgers, my commercial bun crumbled into a gooey mess. All I can say is give this Artisan bread a try!

Monday, September 7, 2009

Artisan Bread

I got this recipe from another home school family It is amazing! No kneading, and very little prep. The batter can be stored in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. Just pull apart what you need, form into a free standing loaf and bake!

Check out this video.

I was too impatient to wait for my first loaf! After allowing the batter to rise for 2 hours, I pulled a small portion from the bowl, formed this loaf, and baked on a pizza pan. From what I've read, tomorrow's bread will be even better. My daughter and I shared the first loaf pictured above over a bowl of hot homemade soup. Yummy!

Ingredients

Makes 4 1-pound loaves

3 cups lukewarm water
1 1⁄2 tbsp granulated yeast (1 1⁄2 packets)
1 1⁄2 tbsp coarse kosher or sea salt
6 1⁄2 cups unsifted, unbleached, all-purpose white flour

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Free-Range!

Today, we clipped feathers and allowed the chickens out of the coop! What a treat! They scratched and explored the backyard, doing what they do best--- eating bugs! What happiness!

These ladies are two and a half months old. I'm figuring they'll be laying in a few short months. we brought them home when they were 1 day old -- tame as can be, and a joy each morning!

Poor Sheba got scolded while the hens roamed. No Sheba! Sheba! Behave! We're teaching her to "herd" the chicks. She's allowed to sniff, stare, follow, but not taste chicken. The only thing Sheba's allowed to chase, is the hungry cat that likes to crawl over our fence. When THAT happens, BAD KITTY! Get her, Sheba!

Time for me to work on a bigger coop. Once the project is completed, I plan to purchase 4 more chicks to add to the brood -- TEN is the maximum allowed within city limits! Thus, the adventures of urban farming!

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

A Busy August!

Galian Israeli Melon, Tomato, Parmesan rolls, and Brown Turkey Figs.

I haven't done a blog update in so long I forgot my password!! Thought I'd update ya'll on what's been going on.

My sister traveled from West Texas (Lubbock) to pay a visit. We ended up going to our favorite nursery, the Natural Gardener, and of course, Whole Foods!

Natural Gardener was very disappointing as the heatwave had really taken a toll on everything. It's been a really brutal summer. I think we had a total of 67 100+ days so far. It really wiped out my gardening attempts. Tonight on the national news they showed our fast vanishing lakes -- dropping a foot of water each week. It's pretty bad here. We need rain, lots of it!


One day for lunch, I created an awesome tuna sandwich on a bed of lettuce, organic tomato, served on a lightly toasted buttered Parmesan roll, slices of Galia melon, figs, and chips --- Sun tea with slices of lime, lemon, and Stevia for sweetener.
I prefer organic veggies so I can save my seeds. The Galia melon was out of this world. My daughter and I got to sample this at Whole Foods and decided to chunk back $6 for the Mediterranian melon. Now we have the seeds to grow our own.
This month my daughter completed her final show -- School House Rock Live --- at the Sam Bass theatre. This was a lot of fun, but draining as it's a huge commitment.
Around the time my daughter auditioned for the show, I took on extra work as a data entry clerk at my job, Hope Alliance -- we offer shelter for women and children in domestic violence situations. For a couple hours a day, I enter all the sexual assault/domestic violence cases throughout Texas into a computer system. On weekends, I do relief managing at the shelter itself, answering hotlines, and taking care of our residents. It's a rewarding job, but I've decided to stay home more, and cut back on my part-time work. With that said, I'm really excited about the next school year. Another year of interesting field trips, volunteering at Pioneer Farms, sports, and piano lessons. I really do love home schooling and am very thankful for this freedom.

My daughter and I are working on quilts now and trying to get a handle on our yard work. It's a mess after this drought! We are SO looking forward to cooler weather! I'll try to post more on my blog but must confess that when things are busy --- it's easier to touch base with everyone on Facebook!